05 May 2006
Burmese Karen Refugees Eligible To Resettle in United States
State Department move affects more than 9,000 Karen in Thai camp
Washington – More than 9,000 Burmese refugees now in a camp in Thailand will have the opportunity to resettle in the United States thanks to a decision by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to exercise discretionary authority under the Immigration and Nationality Act.
The decision affects some 9,300 refugees from the Karen, a Burmese ethnic minority, who are now living in the Tham Hin refugee camp in Thailand near the Burmese border.
According to State Department spokesman Sean McCormack, who briefed reporters May 5, representatives of the Department of Homeland Security have been at the refugee camp interviewing individuals to see whether they meet the criteria for possible resettlement in the United States as refugees.
McCormack said the Homeland Security representatives discovered that among the refugees were Karen who might have provided some "material support" to the Karen National Union, considered by the United States to be a terrorist organization. Normally these individuals would not be eligible to resettle in the United States without the secretary's waiver under the Immigration Nationality Act.
The act allows the secretary to waive resettlement restrictions on refugees who otherwise meet all the criteria for refugee resettlement in the United States.
McCormack emphasized: "[T]his waiver is not a guarantee that individuals might be resettled in the United States, but merely something that allows the Department of Homeland Security to consider them as potentially eligible." He added: "[T]o my knowledge, there haven't been any individuals who have actually been designated for resettlement here."
McCormack explained that "anybody who might be a combatant or a member of the Karen National Union would not be eligible for resettlement in the United States, even under this waiver authority." However, as a State Department fact sheet released the same day explained, secretary's decision allows Karen members resettlement in the United States if it can be determined that these refugees "pose no danger to the safety and security of the United States."
The Burmese refugees in question, according to State's fact sheet, "have been identified as a population of special humanitarian concern to the United States due to the privations they have experienced during and since their flight from Burma and due to the lack of any other durable solution."
The KNU, founded in 1948, historically has functioned as the de facto civilian government of the Karen people in the areas it controlled, resisting the repression of and seeking autonomy from the Burmese regime, the State Department fact sheet says. The Karen National Liberation Army is the armed wing of the KNU.
In early 2004, Burma's military regime and the KNU entered into a temporary cease-fire, but the talks since have stalled, failing to formalize an end to the conflict.
For more information on U.S. policies, see U.S. Support for Democracy in Burma and Humanitarian Assistance and Refugees.
The fact sheet and the transcript of McCormack's remarks are available on the State Department's Web site.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
